Car-wheel



(No Model.)

D. H. RICE.

u GAR WHEEL. A N0. 330,423. Pfi NOV. 1'7, 1885.

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NlTED TATES PATENT DAVID HALL RICE, OF LOWELL, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES FERGUSON, OF

BRIDGEWATER, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 330,423 dated November 1'7, 1885.

Application filed January 3, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID HALL Bron, of Lowell, in the county of MiddleseX and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oar-Vheels, of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to car-wheels; and it consistsin anovel method of combiningthe parts ofa wrought-iron carwvheel body to form therefrom a solid and substantial wheel-body without the use of bolts or rivets to hold the parts together, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a face or side View of a car-wheel body constructed according to my invention. Fig.2 is a transverse section throughthe axis of the wheelbody. Fig. 3 represents a transverse sectional view of the wheel-blanks before the rim is attached thereto, with the appliances used to aid in forging on the rim. Figs. 4 and 5 are views of the opposite faces of the piece of iron used to form the rim before it is built up on the wheel-blanks, as hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of Fig. 4 on the line 00 0c.

To form the wheel-body, I take two wroughtiron blanks, A A,which are to be made substan tially in the manner described in the Letters Patent granted to James Ferguson,October 7, 1884, No. 306,070. These blanks are formed with an annular lip, a at, around each, as described in said Ferguson patent, and with annular shoulders a a in their outer faces. I mount these blanks on an axle, B, and on the outside of each I place a metal supporting-piece, D D, fitted to go under the shoulders a a and support the outer parts of the disk in position. These supporting-pieces are disks fitted to the form of the blanks on their faces, and they slip over the shaft B and are clamped up against the wheehblanks by nuts d (1, working into screw-threads on the shaft B.

E is a base or foundation supporting two uprights, ee. At their upper ends these uprights have slots or notches vertically and centrally across them, into which the ends of the axle B can be dropped, as shown in Fig. 3, and allow it to revolve in them. Mounted in the uprights e e, as shown, is a metal roller Serial No. 151,900. (No model.)

F, on an axle,-F, which revolves in bearings in the uprights, and has a pulley, F on its end to give it motion from any suitable counter-shaft. The roller F is made of a shape the reverse of the edges of the wheel-blanks A A, as shown. I next prepare a strip of metal, S, long enough to wind a sufficient number of times around the edges of the wheel-blanks to make the rim of the wheel, and I roll this strip with a groove, 8, on one side which will just fit over the annular lips a a of the blanks,

and on the opposite side of the strip S, Iroll a rib of the samebreadth and height as the two lips a a.

Having thus prepared the several parts, I place the two wheel-blanks A A on the axle B in a furnace and bring the heat of the fur nace upon the edges of the blanks and the lips a a until they are heated to a welding-heat. For this purpose I employ a furnace having an annular fire-chamber of the proper sizesuch, for instance, as the furnace patented to said James Ferguson, October 7, 1884., No. 806,07l-or any other well -known annular chambered furnace. At the same time I heat the strip of metal S to a welding-heat in another furnace. I then take the wheel-blanks and axle out of the furnace and drop the axle into the notches in the standards e e, and introduce the end of the strip S between the roller F and the edges of the blanks, so that the groove 8 will embrace the lips a a, when, by giving motion to the roller F, the strip will be continually rolled and welded upon the edges of the blanks A A and upon itself until the rim of the wheel is formed. I then turn off the exterior of the rim to any form desired to receive the tire. It is understood, of course, that the notches in the ends of the uprights shall be made deep enough to allow the axle to rise as the successive layers of the rim are thus built upon it, and weights or pressure may be applied on top of the axle to give the requisite pressure upon the weldingroll F, if the weight of the blanks and their supportingdisks D D are not sufficient. It is also obvious that with a light or thin strip, S, the supporting-disks D D may be dispensed with and the edges of the wheel-blanks A A be temporarily held together by bolts or rivets,

as shown in said Ferguson patent, while the welding of the rim is accomplished; or the blanks may be driven so firmly onto the axle B as to thus hold them together, the essential feature of my invention being the coiling and welding of thecontinuous strip S around and upon the edges of the blanks A A and upon itself to form the rim of the wheel and unite the blanks together. It is also obvious that the strip S may be made flat and the lips a a be omitted from the wheel-blanks and the strip welded on, as described; or the lips may be omitted and the groove 8 and strip S be made wide enough to embrace the entire edges of the blanks A A without departing from the spirit of my invention. In case a tire is to be placed on the rim of the wheel requiring an annular'holding-groove for it in the rim, I form this groove while Welding up and forming the rim in the following manner: Near one end of the strip S, I cut a piece out of one side of it, between 8 and 8 of the proper depth and of alength to extend either entirely or partially round the wheel. Between 8 and 8*, which is of the length to reach at least round the wheel over the last-mentioned cutaway part, I cut away the side of strip S to a less depth inward. I coil and weld this cutaway end of the strip around the wheel-blanks anditself last. The cut-away portion between a and s will thus form a recessed portion or groove, 0, in the edge of the rim, and the portion between s and s will form a lip overhanging the groove 0, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The tongue 8 being turned off of the outer edge of the finished rim, the tire may be fitted to this outer edge and into groove 0.

Instead of employing the roller F to weld on the successive layers of the rim, it may be welded by any other suitable meansas, for instance, by hand-as the coiling progresses.

One great advantage in forming the rim of the wheel as above described is that, as it consists of several layers of iron welded upon each other, as described, the imperfections of the metal in one part of the strip, if any happen to occur, are neutralized by the perfect parts welded against them, and cannot affect the entire rim, as appears in Fig. 2, where the dotted lines represent the several layers welded together. The rim made in this way is also not liable to expand like a single piece or thickness of metal.

. What I claim as new and of my invention is- 1. The'hollow wrought-iron car-wheel body, formed of the blanks A A and a wrought-iron rim coiled and welded together and upon the edges thereof from a strip of metal, S, in sue-- cessive layers, substantially as described.

2. .-The hollow wrought-iron car-wheel body, formed of the blanks AA and awrought-iron rim coiled and welded upon the edges thereof from a strip, S, provided with a groove, 8, which embraces aportion of said blanks during the welding process,substantially as described.

3. The combination of the blanksA A, provided upon their edges with the lips a a, and the strip S, provided with the groove 8, embracing said lips and coiled and welded thereon, the whole forming a car-wheel body, substantially as described.

Y 4. The combination of the blanksAA, provided upon their edges with the lips a' a, and the strip-S, provided with the groove 8 and ribs, and coiled and welded upon said lips and upon itself, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the blanks A A, of the strip S, having a portion between 8 and 8 cut away from its side to a greater depth than themetal on either side of it, and coiled and welded upon said blanks and itself, forming the rim of the wheel-body and the groove 0' therein in the same operation, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the wheel-blanks A A, of the strip S, having a portion between a and 8 cut away from its side upon one end and coiled and welded upon said blanks and itself, forminga shouldered or offset part at the outer edge of the rim, substantially as described.

DAVID HALL Bron.

Witnesses:

P. IMBESOHEID, N. P. OOKINGTON. 

